Democratic Senator Elissa Slotkin has implored President Donald Trump to tone down his rhetoric after he suggested that she and five other Democratic lawmakers should face imprisonment — and even the death penalty - but said she refuses to be intimidated.
Trump accused the lawmakers of treason Thursday, after they posted a video urging members of the U.S. military to disobey illegal orders and uphold the Constitution.
“I refuse to be intimidated out of defending the country i love,” Slotkin, a former CIA analyst, said in a video posted to her X account Thursday.
“I would just call upon him and everybody to button it up when it comes to threatening violence against people you disagree with,” Slotkin also told Nexstar Media Group.
Slotkin noted that her office has encountered a “huge spike in death threats and intimidation on our phones and on our emails and websites.”
The Michigan lawmaker also told MS NOW that Capitol police has provided her with around-the-clock security. "We've got law enforcement out in front of my house,” she said. “For all of us, it has fundamentally changed our security situation.”
On Tuesday, Slotkin and five other Democratic lawmakers — all military veterans or former intelligence community professionals — posted a video in which they spoke directly to active duty service members.
“The threats to our Constitution aren't just coming from abroad, but from right here at home,” they said. “Our laws are clear. You can refuse illegal orders. You must refuse illegal orders."
"No one has to carry out orders that violate the law or our Constitution,” the Democrats, who included Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly and Colorado Rep. Jason Crow, said.
In response, Trump fired off a series of posts on Truth Social, describing the video as dangerous and criminal.
“Their words cannot be allowed to stand,” he wrote in one. “LOCK THEM UP???”
In a follow-up post, he wrote, “SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR, punishable by DEATH!”
The president’s high-octane remarks drew mixed reactions in Washington, with Democrats decrying calls for violence and Republicans accusing the six lawmakers of attempting to undermine the president’s lawful authority.
“Trump should keep his reckless mouth shut,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said in a statement, describing his rhetoric as “disgusting and dangerous.”
In a post on X, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer wrote: “Trump has made political violence a feature of his politics. Today he crossed yet another line that NO democracy can afford to tolerate.”
Meanwhile, Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson told The Independent:“What I will say unequivocally [is] that was a wildly inappropriate thing for so called leaders in Congress to do to encourage young troops to disobey orders.”
During a Thursday afternoon press briefing, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt echoed Johnson’s sentiment.
“The sanctity of our military rests on the chain of command, and if that chain of command is broken, it can lead to people getting killed,” she said.
